overbearing attitude of Jodocus, Venceslas shortly afterwards banished him from Bohemia, and on his departure for Germany left the Margrave Prokop—now for some time his most trusted councillor—as his representative in Bohemia.
The presence of Venceslas was at that moment very necessary in Germany. The want of firmness he had lately shown in the administration of his hereditary lands had encouraged his enemies in Germany, at whose head was the ambitious Elector Palatine Ruprecht. He summoned a Diet of the Empire to Frankfort (1398), but this step was taken too late to disarm his enemies, who were already planning his deposition. From Germany King Venceslas proceeded to France to consult with King Charles VI as to the means of ending the papal schism. The two sovereigns decided that both Popes should abdicate, and that the united assembly of the cardinals should elect a new Pope.
This settlement was naturally displeasing to Pope Boniface, and when Venceslas informed him of his wish that he should abdicate, he became an enemy of the king, and consequently a supporter of the Elector Palatine. Countenanced by Boniface, the three ecclesiastical Electors deposed Venceslas (1400), accusing him of neglecting the affairs of the Empire and alienating lands belonging to it,[1] and in his place chose Rupert, Elector Palatine, as King of the Germans. Encouraged by Rupert, the lords of the league had in 1399 again taken up arms against their king. A new internal struggle began in Bohemia, of which we have very scanty record, but in which the Confederates on the whole had the advantage. Venceslas was again obliged to come to terms with his enemies, and to appoint a council from among the principal nobles of the country, a point that had always been the principal object of the league of the lords. The new Archbishop of Prague, Wilfram of Škvorec, and Henry, Lord of Rosenberg, were to hold the principal offices of State. Venceslas about this time succeeded in detaching Margrave Jodocus from the Confederacy by giving up Lusatia to him for his lifetime. King Sigismund of Hungary had not been able to interfere during the new troubles, as he had at that time been
- ↑ This referred to the fact that Venceslas had conferred the title of Duke of Milan on John Galeazzo de' Visconti without consulting the Electors.
